no phone

Through a strange series of events, my phone is dead. Until further notice you can contact me through email or leave a comment. pray that they will fix it for free or something!

Congrats Jimmy and Angel!

My first niece was born today. She didn't come as expected - the doctor had to do as C-section - but both Angel and Jasmine are doing fine. I have the privilege of seeing them on Sunday! I will not steal Jimmy's thunder - if you want to know about their new baby girl, I am sure Jimmy will keep his blog updated with all the stats:) Congrats you guys! I love you!

very funny, dawn.

Even though I try to hide it, my close friends and family know that I am not exactly Betty Crocker. Sure, i can follow a recipe when i want to - but cooking is not my favorite thing to do. So, when dawn gave me a list of things she bought for the boys to eat, I was relieved. No planning for the meals. great. just my kinda thing. when she was showing me around the kitchen, she pointed to her rice cooker like three times (it must be her new favorite gadget or something) and kept telling me how easy it was and that camden loves rice. she said "just follow the instructions - it's so easy." so, i didnt plan ahead. if it was that easy i could just wing it, right? well, i threw the encore meal for the boys into the microwave, programmed it for ten minutes and pulled out the rice cooker and instructions. now, please understand that i saw this booklet on the counter at the beginning of the week that says, "Flavor Scenter Steamer Plus". When i read it, i put a mental emphasis on "Scenter" and thought it was one of those potpourri simmerers that just happened to double as a rice cooker. how appetizing could that possibly be? wouldnt the rice take on the candle-like scent? or maybe the steam from the rice heats the scented oil? anyway, i put the machine on a counter near an outlet, got out the rice, and opened the instruction manual. it was crazy. there are twelve parts that needed to be labeled on page one. twelve. I am a microwave kinda girl. open door, insert food, close door, press start. i couldnt figure out where the water was supposed to go so i decided to skip that part and read ahead. i skimmed to page 10 where it said how long to cook the rice. 52 minutes. FIFTY-TWO MINUTES! no way. who has time for that? by the time i had gotten to that point in the Flavor Scenter Steamer Plus survivor's guide my microwaved meat was already dinging. i put the pieces of the gadget back together (probably not stacked in the proper order) and decided that dawn can deal with her potpourri-oil-wax-rice-take-forever-to-cook gadget all by herself. for tonight, however, rice was not an option.

"Aunt Jen, You drive like an OLD LADY!"

(The title is a quote from Camden today).
So today we didn't plant pumpkin seeds and we didn't go to the splash park. Instead we played in the puddles on our way into meijer. Sounds like fun, huh? I sure had a blast! My camera died (again) so I borrowed Crystal's so we could at least get some pics from the day!
At Meijer, I had the most delightful shopping experience. One single dollar bought some entertainment for the boys. It's pretty cool. I put a buck into the machine and Bob the Builder plays inside the kid's "car" section of the shopping cart. WOW. I didn't feel guilty when I checked out the jewelry, purses, clothes, etc. instead of just buying the thermometer i ventured to get! Speaking of the thermometer...the battery was dead. good thing Josiah was feeling better or customer service would have one angry aunt to deal with!
Here are some pics from today...dawn, take note of josiah's new shoes. he took one to bed with him and kept repeating "cwocks. cwocks. cwocks."


he loves them:) Also, we baked cupcakes and Camden kept opening the cabinet and pointing to the flour insisting that his mommy says you need cauliflower to bake cupcakes.

the boys!

Monday Monday

Today was awesome! We played in the sprinkler...









We went to the mall and Steak and Shake...



AND Camden even built a "stick fire" in the living room to keep us warm all night. Sometimes I forget about how little people have giant imaginations, so when he came into the kitchen to tell me how bright his stick fire was burning I sprinted into the living room and found the creation below. (he is "roasting a marshmallow").

Dear Mommy...

Dawn, camden wanted to write you a letter tonight. Here are his exact words...
Dear Mommy,
I know you went to camp and you brought a lot of teenagers, but if you brought that much teenagers they wouldn't fit. um, mommy, or you couldn't take schmitty because maybe sometime when you take that much teenagers he wouldn't fit. nothing else.
love,
camden.
p.s. bahm bam bah bahm ba ba bahm.

Sunday

First of all, HAPPY 7th ANNIVERSARY JOEL AND DAWN! i totally lost track of the date! now on to the boys:) We made strawberry-banana smoothies to have after dinner. Of course, they devoured them! Camden also informed me that my macaroni and cheese is cheesier than his mommy's, but that mommy makes is better than me. josiah thinks he is so funny running around the house and making me catch him. i think this will be my new weight loss plan! here are some pics from tonight! enjoy!











It's close to 8 p.m. The boys and I are going to watch "Fix the House". Adios!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Lisa got married yesterday. She was the most beautiful bride i have ever seen. (no offense dawn). I had the privelige of being one of her bridesmaids and the experience was priceless. I must admit that I feel extremely old at the moment. Girls talk about getting married almost instantly after discovering boys. Since I have been friends with Lisa since second grade and now and all that we had talked about during adolescence has finally come to fruition (well - for her anyway!) She was georgous, Nathan was handsome, and the wedding went perfectly!
After the wedding, Amanda, Crystal, and I trekked overnight to Michigan. They are going to Northland for camp with Dawn and Joel's youth group and I am taking care of two of the most adorable boys in the entire world. (The third is with his mommy and daddy!) seventeen hours, eight shots of espresso, and one speeding ticket later I am finally here. The boys are napping and I am about to join them. Pictures from Lisa's wedding and my week full of adventures will be posted soon!

Graduation

I guess it is about time that I posted pics from graduation. I had an incredible time in W-town, including the privilege of flaunting Maranatha's gorgeous campus and spending time with my friends and family. Here are some pics:

So Funny!

My nephew expresses his Mom's side of the family in the following video. I know that he is my nephew so i think this is the funniest thing in the world - but he is also just a three year old that is telling his story to his brand new baby brother by using his hands. A made-up language i guess. He is so cute! I dont know how to put the utube pic on here, so here is the link:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ13PYj8Z7Y